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[cajobportal Insights] The year 2018 in retrospect

It has been an eventful 2018 for we the Homo Sapiens in the corporate world

Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, saw a $24 billion increase in net worth to $123 billion – a tribute to entrepreneurship.

The big fat wedding of Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal was something that could inspire you to dream big J , of having maximalist expectations from life.

Walmart came shopping to India with a USD 16 billion cheque and gave a fresh lease of life to the e-commerce industry in India. Now we have 18 unicorns – start-ups valued at $1 billion+, which makes India home to the third most unicorns. Recruitment in start-ups was frenzied as more overseas money kept flowing in. Lot of good news for a country which has world’s largest young working population of 440 million

The telecom industry saw 15,000-20,000 job losses in 6 months ended 30th Sep and we, at cajobportal.com, were inundated with CVs of senior finance executives looking out for jobs. Same for airlines industry. So much stress and anxiety for employees of these sectors.

It’s been a year when human values / ethics rose to prominence and played a major role in making / breaking fortunes. CEOs lost their jobs not because of poor performance on the Earnings per Share (EPS) front but rather probity and accountability. It has been a downhill journey from the pinnacle for top leaders of behemoths.

Chanda Kochhar had to quit over allegations of quid pro quo, ILFS Vice-Chairman Hari Sankaran and the entire board were sacked by the government as NBFC failed to service debt of INR 91,000 crores. We saw Flipkart’s co-founder and Group CEO Binny Bansal exit over charges of “personal misconduct” and the Singh brothers of Ranbaxy/Fortis resigning after an unfavourable court ruling w.r.t. their M&A transaction with Daiichi. A Rana Kapoor and Shikha Sharma weren’t allowed to continue beyond their term by RBI, apparently due to apprehensions over unreported NPAs

Lesson to be learnt: The CEO’s conduct must be above suspicion like Caesar’s wife. Remember that Caesar had divorced Pompeia, saying that “my wife ought not even to be under suspicion.”

Tussle between the Number 1 and 2 in a CBI i.e. Alok Verma VS Rakesh Asthana was reflective of tussles in the corporate world.

No wonder an Assocham study found that 42.5 percent of employees in the Indian private sector are afflicted with general anxiety disorder or depression as compared to the government sector.

The #MeToo movement saw the ever triumphant women emerge all the more powerful. Now she could comfortably raise a voice against truants. Now in 2018, her “No means No”

The entire world came together to rescue the Thailand teens – monk-turned-coach Ake’s meditation that kept 12 Thai teens trapped in a cave to be alive for 9 days.

You undergo the rigmarole of the corporate world for money. And want to save it. This was a year where Fixed Deposits emerged as the best investment alternative.

Election uncertainty, rising crude, a weaker rupee and a trade war between the U.S. and China spooked markets. Money parked in small cap and mid-cap stocks saw massive erosion. Nifty Midcap Index was down 17% and Small-cap 100 Index dropped 30.5%.

At cajobportal.com, our distinct value proposition for finance recruitment was endorsed by increasing number of clients. We crossed the Lifetime figure for Billable CTC of INR 17 cr+ mark. This was notwithstanding the multiple back outs this year, where we failed to understand as to which candidate to take at face value.

An initiative of ours in form of Career Guidance Channel for India’s youth saw 30,000 subscribers and cumulative lifetime watch time of 1 crore+ minutes. (20 years 64 days)